Major WWE Event Being Canceled Because Of Jinder Mahal

Last week on SmackDown Live, Jinder Mahal lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles in the main event of the show. The title change was rumored all week, but a lot of fans were still surprised that WWE officials pulled the trigger for Mahal to drop it. Afterward, there were several reports all claiming to have the reason why Jinder lost the WWE Title, but the only true reason is that Vince McMahon made the final decision.

Low ratings and low expectations for Mahal’s match with Brock Lesnar were a part of Vince’s decision, but Jinder’s push on WWE television hasn’t resulted in enough business in India, which was the entire purpose of Mahal’s title reign. WWE was building to a pair of WWE live events in New Delhi this December with the WWE Champion Jinder Mahal as the top draw. However, WWE officials have canceled one of those events.

It’s being reported that the December 8 show has been canceled after surprisingly low ticket sales. Most people expected the show to be sold out, especially with Mahal being booked as a huge babyface. Originally, he was meant to have a match against Kevin Owens because WWE officials thought he would ensure a huge babyface reaction for Jinder Mahal. However, the show was canceled entirely because of low ticket sales.

[Image by WWE]

Now, WWE is advertising to combine the two nights into a “Supershow” and Triple H is replacing Owens as Mahal’s opponent for the event. WWE officials are hopeful The Game’s involvement will help boost the ticket sales to sell out the show. No one is specifically being blamed for the low ticket sales, but it does not reflect well on Jinder Mahal’s drawing power in India, which should impact his push on WWE television.

If the company can secure a better television deal in India for 2019, then Mahal’s push will be considered a success, but it’s unclear how that will happen considering WWE is struggling to sell out these shows. Triple H was just utilized during the European tour to be the top draw as well, so it’s not a good sign that the same thing is being done to cover for Mahal in India. The next month or so will be really important to determine how WWE officials are going to view and push Jinder Mahal for the rest of his career with the company.